


Loving is the antidote

by Smuklouis



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Living Together, M/M, Roommates, Sexuality, i don't really know what to tag tbh, i'm gonna tag as the story goes along, omg they were roommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:34:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23846050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smuklouis/pseuds/Smuklouis
Summary: Louis needs a flatmate. In walks Harry, who is in need of a flat. They click immediately, but they are fundamentally different. Harry is overly affectionate while Louis isn't used to affection; especially not between guys. But there is something about Harry...AKA"I take a lot of naps on the couch. My flatmate has been tucking me in and kissing me on the forehead when he thinks I'm already asleep. I like it and have been pretending to sleep to get forehead kisses. How do I tell him I'd like it if he'd do it while I'm awake too?"
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 9
Kudos: 26





	Loving is the antidote

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back, back, back again!
> 
> This is going to be my first chaptered fic which I'm so excited about! Not sure how many chapters yet, though. I'm gonna try and post new chapters once a week, but I have my ancient Greek exam soon, so I might not be able to do it these first weeks. Who knows?
> 
> The prompt is from: https://prewars.tumblr.com/post/613944361631219712
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Louis got up this morning which is a win. Waking up on Niall’s couch again does not feel like a win, though. Louis has been studying theatre at Manchester University for about half a year now, and he is loving every second of it. Ever since scoring the main role in Grease as Danny Zuko back in the day, the only thing Louis wants to do is perform. Whether it’s singing and/or acting. He would love to make people feel things, feel moved by his performance. He wants to make people happy, sad, angry, the lots. He just wanna see people cry, alright? But here he is again, making himself breakfast after waking up on Niall’s shitty couch, in his shitty flat (not really, Louis is just in a _mood_ ) and he starts questioning every life choice he has ever made.

A shirtless, sleepy Niall stumbles into the kitchen and stops in the doorway.

“You’re still here?”

“Of course I am? You don’t have to rub it in that I don’t have a place to live, thank you very much.” He sighs and pours milk in his cereal.

Yeah, Louis doesn’t have a place to live. He got kicked out of his old flat only after living there for a few months. He has been flat hunting ever since, but everything requires a flatmate and Niall is no help at all. Well, he has been crashing at Niall’s the last 4 months, but he still doesn’t want to move in with Louis as his official flatmate, so he can have a proper place to live. He will never understand. Louis sighs. He is so tired.

That’s something else. Louis has a condition which makes him tired all the time, and it is not helping his moods. If possible, he naps multiple times a day. He tries to control how much he sleeps, though. Just to keep his fatigue in check. Some days are better than others. Some days he can’t even get out of bed, while other days he can get through it without napping at all. He got up this morning but he can still feel the tiredness deep in his bones. He is definitely gonna nap during his free period later today.

“Louis?” He turns to Niall when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

“Huh, what?” Louis asks.

“You’re just zoning out again. Is it bad today?” A worried expression forms on his face, and Louis hates it.

“Well I’m out of bed, ain’t I?”

“No need to get snappy with me, mister!” He says, trying to lighten the mood. It’s sort of working. The corner of his mouth twitches. Okay, it is working. How can you be mad at someone so adorable!

“Sorry… But yes, I think it’s bad today.” Louis goes to put the milk in the fridge. “Bad is starting to become the new normal, don’t you think?”

Niall stays silent, thinking, while Louis eats a spoonful of cereal by the kitchen counter, not risking sitting down incase he can’t make himself get up again.

Finally, Niall asks, “You know you are always welcome to crash here, right?”

Louis hums with his mouth full of cereal.

“I don’t want you to worry, Louis.” Louis swallows.

“I know Niall, and I am so grateful for everything you have done for me these last few months, but I really need a flat.” He says in frustration and eats another spoonful.

Niall moves closer and Louis sets down his bowl on the counter, knowing what this is leading to. Niall gives him one of his soft hugs and puts his face in Louis’ neck. Louis’ goes rigid every time this happens since he is not used to physical affection in this way. He has learned to accept it from Niall though, and quickly melts into the Irish lad’s long and lanky arms.

“You’re gonna be late.”

“I know.” But he stays in the hug a few second longer.

They pull apart and Niall claps his hands on Louis’ shoulders. “Go get ‘em, tiger!”

Louis laughs and squeaks when he turns around to go get his bag and Niall smacks him in the arse.

“Hey, hands off the goods!” He shouts and almost runs to get out of the flat to make it in time. He can hear Niall cackling until the door closes behind him.

\---

Louis sneaks into the classroom and takes a seat closest to the door, as to not disturb anyone. He makes eye contact with his professor and sees the disappointment in her eyes. Being late is a common occurrence these days and it seems that his professor has noticed as well. Louis sighs and finds his notepad in his bag and tunes into the discussion on _The Waste Land_ by T.S. Eliot and modernism. He has been taking extra English literature classes, mainly because he loves it and becoming an English teacher is a great alternative to performing if that doesn’t work out.

Being so focused on catching up on what he lost, he hadn’t even noticed the boy sitting with him on the back row as the only other student. Louis recognizes him as being the happy boy from the front row. He always has comments and questions to the different periods and genres they work with, and Louis has always thought he was very smart. Weird he’s in the back. He doesn’t seem happy either. He wonders what might have made him this way. Louis turns his head back to the blackboard when he realizes he got distracted and writes down what he missed in his daze.

“Now, I want you all to work in pairs and find more examples of modernism in the text. You’re all adults, so I trust you all to find a partner yourselves.” She says and takes her empty coffee cup in her hands. “You have 30 minutes and then we’ll discuss what you all have found.”

She leaves the room, presumably to get more coffee. He yawns. He could really use some coffee.

“Hey, do you have a partner?” A voice says from his right. He turns to look at the source of the voice and finds that it is the not-so-happy boy from the not-so-front row.

“No, do you?”

“Uhm,” He pulls out the chair beside Louis and sits. “No?”

“Let’s do it together then.” He smiles at the boy and he finally sees a small smile on his lips. “I’m Louis.”

“’M Harry.” He mutters and opens his computer to find his notes on the text.

“Alright Harold, lets do this!” Louis says and starts reading his own notes, pretending that he actually read _The Waste Land_. No one can blame him; it’s so boring!

They talk about it back and forth and Louis is forced to admit that he actually hasn’t read the text, which prompts Harry to admit the same. They laugh nervously at that and a silence falls over them. Louis can’t let it get awkward.

“So,” He fiddles with his notepad. “Rough week?”

“You have no idea!” Harry exclaims and rubs his hands down his face in exhaustion. “I’ve had some problems with my landlord these last few days because of some payment issues and this morning he just emailed me saying I have to be out by the end of the month, can you believe it?” He’s eyes looks wild but also so tired. “And on top of that, I was late to class today.”

That explains why he wasn’t in the front row, Louis thinks. Wait a minute?

“Wait, so you are looking for a new place? Because that happened to be a few months ago as well, and I’ve been flat hunting ever since. I just need a flatmate.”

“Really?” Harry asks and finally looks up into Louis’ eyes. He has never seen eyes sparkle before.

“Yeah, if you’re down?” He answers and just now realizes how ridiculous it is that he is asking a complete stranger to move in with him. Oh well, he’ll do anything to get a place to live at this point, so why not.

“Sure, yeah!” Harry beams and almost jumps on top of Louis to hug him.

Louis is taken aback by the sudden show of affection and doesn’t know what to do when Harry’s arms are around his neck. Why is Louis like this?

He finally snaps out of it and wraps his arms around Harry and pats him awkwardly on the back.

Harry pulls away and says, “This is such a lifesaver, honestly. I don’t know what I would have done.”

“I get that, I’ve been couch surfing all this time but mainly at my friend, Niall’s place who study music here.”

“Oh, Niall Horan?”

Louis makes a puzzled face. “Yes, do you know him?”

“Yeah, I have some music elective classes with him, great lad!” Harry says.

“He sure is.” Louis agrees. “Small world. Weird I haven’t meet you outside of uni before.” Louis wonders.

That’s actually amazing. If Niall is friends with him, he must be a good guy. Louis is even more excited to get to know Harry now.

“Nah, I haven’t really hung out with Niall that much outside of uni yet, but we always talked about finding a day to hang out.” Harry explains.

“Makes senses. Anyway, can I borrow your laptop so I can show you some of the flats I’ve been looking at?” Harry pushes his laptop towards Louis, and they move closer together to better see the screen. They are sat shoulder to shoulder and Harry feels warm against him, even through the two jumpers Louis is wearing. (He gets cold when he’s tired, okay?). Closeness with strangers is usually not something Louis is particularly fond of, but the warmth somehow comforts him. It’s strange, but in a good way.

They spend their 30 minutes looking at flats and bookmark the ones they both agree on, so they can contact the landlords after class. They are interrupted by their professor and they realize that they don’t have anything to present and it triggers a round of giggles from them both. When the professor turns to them for answers, Harry stutters his way through an answer while Louis tries to hold in his laughter. They make eye contact when the professor finally moves on, and their giggling continues until she dismisses the class not long after.

**Author's Note:**

> Let the flat hunting commence!
> 
> Gonna try and post a chapter next week, but no promises.  
> A kudo would be appreciated :)


End file.
